Rules of Engagement Read Online Free PDF Page B

favor.
     
    “Fast forward three years. An ambitious lawyer with the District Attorney’s office. I thought Brody was perfect for me. We shared the same interests and he didn’t mind my hectic schedule because he was just as busy.” Her lips twisted wryly. “He was apparently so busy that he didn’t get to attend his own stag party. One of my bridesmaids decided to show him what he missed out on just before the ceremony.” Her nose wrinkled. “My brothers didn’t like him either.”
     
    “Did they like the last one?”
     
    “Yes.” She hesitated. “Well, they didn’t actively dislike him. They just never…warmed up to him.”
     
    “Good instincts.”
     
    “I’ll never admit that to their faces,” she vowed, then frowned. “But they haven’t liked any guy I’ve dated, so it’s probably not good instincts so much as them being difficult.”
     
    “That doesn’t mean you don’t have lousy taste in men.” His eyes gleamed with arrogance. “Or, you did have lousy taste in men.”
     
    “That being the case, I decided playing the role of a good Catholic girl’s gotten me nowhere.”
     
    A beat of silence as those gray eyes that were so much like his cousin’s glinted dangerously. “And I’m just an available stud.”
     
    Katarzyna wondered if she was as red as a tomato yet. It was the curse of being a natural redhead. “I…uh…hadn’t actually planned on…” It wasn’t natural for a woman to be so tongue-tied with a man who knew her as intimately as Jake Duquesne did. Especially not a woman used to the ribald humor at which cops excelled. She cleared her throat. “I was planning more of a solo effort.”
     
    Silver gray irises went molten and Katarzyna’s temperature spiked, her center going creamy. She swallowed a mouthful of orange juice with some difficulty. “But since you are here and we seem to be…sexually compatible, perhaps we can continue…” Her voice trailed off and she was glad a third party wasn’t around to witness her mortifyingly inexperienced attempt to proposition a man.
     
    When he just continued to gaze at her wordlessly, Katarzyna rushed on, cringing on the inside. “It’s just for two weeks. I’m not expecting a lifetime commitment from you.” She pushed her empty plate away from her. “More like a honeymoon without the ‘’til death do us part’ stuff.”
     
    “A fling.”
     
    “Right,” she said, relieved that he’d broken his unnerving silence. “No ties, no promises, no hurt feelings when it ends. In fourteen days—thirteen, now—I leave and you get your solitude back.”
     
    His lashes lowered, shielding his eyes. “Seeing as you’re so keen on laying down rules, I got one of my own.”
     
    He hadn’t said no. She felt oddly breathless, anticipatory, and could only nod.
     
    “Since I’m the experienced one,” he drawled, making something unpleasant stir in her chest at the thought of him with other women before her—and more women after her, “I call the shots. You do what I say, wherever, whenever.”
     
    Her sex was throbbing and words remained beyond her. Again, Katarzyna merely nodded.
     
     
     
    Thirteen days wasn’t a very long time, Jake thought as he gazed at the woman sitting across from him, his blood stirring as his body hardened into a familiar state. It felt damned short, actually. If he only had thirteen days, however, then he was going to make use of every single minute.
     
    “Stand up,” he ordered.
     
    She stared at him, looking uncertain.
     
    “You just agreed to do whatever I say, Katarzyna,” he reminded her, the words soft but firm. “Wherever, whenever. Let’s see how well you follow orders, starting right here, right now.”
     
    She appeared to be rethinking the wisdom of their agreement and the rules.
     
    “Stand up,” he repeated, more forcefully this time.
     
    Wood scraped on wood as she pushed her chair back from the table. Still looking unsure of herself, of him, of the